Grant McCann and Hull City on the mend after Covid-19 cases

The six will have to go through three-day coronavirus protocols before coach Grant McCann knows if they will be available, but as things stand, he sees no reason for his club to ask for a postponement after seeing the last two games called off.

Blackpool, who have played and been somewhat unluckily beaten by Huddersfield Town and Middlesbrough over the festIve period, have had issues with injury and Covid themselves, so fans will still have to keep an eye on the news on Friday but the Football League's decision to abandon matchday testing should avoid a repeat of Boxing Day, where Hull's match at home to Blackburn Rovers, which was called off at 1pm. McCann is very much in favour of that.

Back himself from the illness, he was in a positive ahead of the trip to Bloomfield Road, eager to get the game played.

"We are better than we have been," he said, the effects on his squad limited by a higher-than-average vaccination uptake. "We've had six players return on Thursday but the problem is when they return from Covid they've got a three-day protocol they've got to follow, which means day one they train at 80 per cent of heart-rate, day two they train at 90 per cent, and day three they can go full tilt.

"Hopefully if they come through the session today (Friday) they will be in a good place.

"It's nice to have those players return.

"We've recalled Josh Lyons from his loan spell at Spalding so we're a wee bit healthier. We're still going to be missing seven or eight players for the game due to Covid or injury but we're in a much better place than we were."

McCann is pleased to see the back of matchday testing.

"I think it was crazy anyway," he said. "If you look for something, you'll find it.

"This testing every day, it's hard work for football clubs because you've got to be tested by a medical practitioner, you can't do it yourself. Players have to sit in their cars for 30 minutes before they can even come into the training ground.

"I get we're in the middle of a variant that's strong and spreading quickly but even at the height of the first lockdown it wasn't like this.

"Testing on a matchday is just crazy, I don't know how it ever got to that and I'm glad it's stopped. It's not nice. Nobody wants to see fans travelling for two, two-and-a-half hours to a game for it to be called off but we followed every protocol.

"I even phoned an under-18 player to get his mum and dad to drive him here on Boxing Day. I spoke to him on Christmas Day, made his Christmas Day, only for it to be called off on Boxing Day. That's how bad it got for us."